TURKISH PRESS REVIEW on JUN. 18

Wednesday's newspapers covered eleven police officers being questioned Tuesday in relation to the wiretapping of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office, fifteen more kidnapped Turkmen by the militants of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq's Dor district and Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund seizure of assets from the owner of the Soma mine.

Media

18 Haziran 2014 Çarşamba 12:20

The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Eleven people, including senior officials from the police department, were detained resulting from an investigation carried out by Ankara's prosecutors due to the wiretapping of Erdogan's conversations.

Erdogan's former chief of guard and ex-police chief could face charges of espionage for eavesdropping on Erdogan's office in 2012.

Four civil servants were previously identified as potential suspects in the wiretapping scandal.

Daily MILLIYET runs with the headline "Twelve suspects were close to him" reporting that eleven suspects went under investigation and one is still at large after simultaneous operations took place in five cities. The daily notes that they were stripped of their arms.

"Number one former chief guard detained" HURRIYET reported, referring to Zeki Bulut, who was "known as Erdogan's shadow and black box," implying his role as a guard who was constantly with Erdogan and a keeper of his secrets. The daily noted that a former official from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, Hasan Palaz, who had resigned and two officials from the Turkish National Intelligence Organization were called to be interrogated in the wiretapping plot.

Daily AKSAM wrote "Spying Bugs" describing the suspects that were detained after Durak Cetin, the prosecuting attorney of the wiretapping case in Ankara had applied for the operations to be led in Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Yozgat and Karabuk.

The daily added the suspects were to gave a statement to Cetin after the interrogation.

"Chiefs of guard behind the bugs" headlined daily SABAH stressing that Bulut who had a "very reliable profile was among the suspects, shocking everybody."

Some dailies covered the current situation of the Turkmen in Iraq who were attacked in the Turkmen-majority city of Tal Afar, where fifteen more Turkmen were kidnapped by the militants of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq's Dor district.

Daily CUMHURIYET titled "15 more Turks taken hostage" reporting that ISIL has kidnapped sixty workers - including fifteen Turks from a construction project in Kirkuk, where eighty Turks are currently being held hostage.

The daily claimed that ISIL militants raped five girls in the eastern Mosul city of Iraq and are continuing their rampage while the Christians of the region are attempting to flee.

The Iraqi ambassador in Washington called for global help, while Beshir village, southwest of Kirkuk city which includes more than 1,000 Shiite Turkmen fell under the control of ISIL militants along with three more Turkmen villages of Tuz Khormato city.

Daily TURKIYE headlined "Turkmen armed against ISIL" reporting that the Turkmen of Tuz Khormatu were trying to protect their town by arming themselves.

The daily added the staff of eighteen people from the Turkish consulate in Iraq's Basra were evacuated to Kuwait and will be taken to Turkey for their own safety.

Dailies also covered Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund seizing the assets of the owner of the Soma mine where Turkey's worst-ever mine disaster occured causing the death of 301 workers.

Daily VATAN headlined "Cautionary judgement on property" referring to the owner of Soma Mine, Alp Gurkan, and thirteen other businessmen. The decision to confiscate the owner's property was made due to claims that Gurkan has mediated Korkmaz Yigit, a businessman, for smuggling.

SABAH also covered the news by saying that Yigit, who faces his first trial on Tuesday, claimed that the case was based on "the lies of two witnesses" and added that "he was upset because official government institutions decided for him without conducting an investigation."